Anybody besides me having a busy fall? My goodness, it’s all a blur. I feel like we’re supposed to eat turkey under the Christmas tree while dressed in a Halloween costume! So how do we make time to spend with Jesus in the hustle and bustle. Keep reading and let’s take a look.
“I just never have enough time to spend with the Lord,” Amanda cried. “I work forty plus hours a week, commute ninety minutes both ways, oversee elderly parents’ affairs, and take care of my five-year-old son. I’m either on the road, at my desk or taking care of someone else’s needs. And on top of that, I never feel like I’m doing any of it well. What does God want from me in the middle of all this madness? How can I carve out time for Him? I feel like I’m constantly failing Him!”
Amanda is not alone. I’ve been right there with her. Haven’t you?
We live in a physical realm and our new, born-again spirits will never be completely satisfied here on earth. There will always be tension between the two. Living in union with the Spirit of God is counterintuitive to the ways of this world. What causes that tension and prevents us from experiencing unbroken union with Christ? I believe it is the tendency to compartmentalize life into two hemispheres: the secular and the sacred.
Everyday secular activities vie for our attention, while our times of worship and communion are relegated to Sunday morning worship, early morning quiet times, and mid-week Bible studies (if we can fit them in). We spend the majority of our days operating in secular, day-to-day activities and feeling guilty for the lack of time spent in sacred communion with God.
And for most of us, a struggle to find the balance between the secular and the sacred wages war in our hearts. We live in the secular and yet long to be in the sacred. The constant flip-flopping between the two is exhausting, and inevitably we see one as the winner and one as the loser. We see ourselves as failures struggling to get out of Romans 7 and longing to live in Romans 8. We wobble on a spiritual tightrope, fearing the slightest misstep will toss us into the canyon of God’s disapproval.
Thankfully, there is a way to wave the white flag of surrender and end the battle’s constant conflict. We can experience true union with Christ when we erase the dividing line and meld the two hemispheres. Click & Tweet!
What would that look like? Let’s go back to Amanda.
What if Amanda communed with God while she commuted to work?
While she worked at her job?
While she took care of her family?
Do you see how that would help alleviate the false guilt that adds to her feelings of insufficiency? The physical or secular realm involves cooking, cleaning, ironing, shopping, vacuuming, laundering smelly clothes, washing dirty faces, and wiping messy bottoms. It involves being a wife, a mother, an employee, an employer, a friend, a student, and a host of other roles and responsibilities that merge on any given day. What could be sacred about all that? Everything.
The spiritual or sacred realm includes praying, reading the Bible, going to church, memorizing Scripture, serving the poor and meditating on meaningful messages. The spiritual aspects of our lives include worship and practicing spiritual disciplines.
I want to suggest that God never intended for the lines separating the secular and the sacred to exist in the first place. Click & Tweet! Acts 17:28 says, In Him we live and move and have our being. Then the sacred also includes cooking, cleaning, ironing shopping, vacuuming, laundering smelly clothes, washing dirty faces, and wiping messy bottoms. When you erase the lines between the secular and the sacred, your entire life can become an act of worship. Click & Tweet!
That doesn’t mean that we don’t pull away and spend quiet time with God, but it does mean that our communion with God doesn’t stop there.
Dear Lord, forgive me for compartmentalizing my faith. I want all of my life, all of it, to be an act of worship. No more lines. One wholly holy life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
Today, as you do your errands, go to work, clean your house, cook your dinner…invite God along. Talk to Him. Acknowledge His presence.
Leave a comment and tell me your favorite place to talk to God other than your home.
Do you long to feel close to God but sense there’s something missing? That you’ve missed that mysterious formula to make it happen? Do have a persistent longing to experience God’s presence and working in your life, but not quite sure how to make it happen? If so, my book, A Sudden Glory: God’s Lavish Response to Your Ache for Something More, is just for you. Join me in discovering how to erase the lines between the secular and the sacred and experience a deeper more intimate relationship with God than ever before. While you’re there, you can download a free chapter or watch a video book trailer.
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Comments 22
I am a gardener and find this is my “God” time. The kiss of the sun for pardon the song of the birds for myrrh one is closer to Gods heart in the garden than anyplace else on earth.
Some of my favorite times with God outside my traditional “quiet time” is spent back at my barn cleaning horse stalls and caring for the animals. I almost always have worship music playing and have some of my most intimate conversations with God while holding a pitchfork.
Thank you for the reminder that adding the Lord to every part of my day does not squeeze time out of my day, but adds peace to my day.
I love to talk to God when I’m driving alone in my car.
I love to talk to God when I’m driving alone in my car.
When I talk with God it’s as I am in my car that my core way of talking to God always starts with praise through song and just coming under His will and way to purify my emotions and stay connected to Him, even when fulfilling the hardest task at work that needs my undivided attention. I’m saying work through my hands my feet my mind my heart to serve as if you would be doing the task yourself Lord Jesus.. I see myself as a connection to Him at all times.. especially when dealing with the most impossible person I face or meet. Whether it’s being still before Him or simply with other people.
I tell Jesus be the kindness others need. Be the caring or hard love they need at this moment right now… I just wanna be an extention of Him..not if it’s convenient but what is necessary for this moment and time… it’s also my way of seeing Jesus in others.. working resting even playin and praying. It’s a lifestyle now. For I need His love to come through where I’m lacking.. yoked together and abiding in Him.. I think that’s what Jesus means when He says these last 2 phrases.
In the shower or driving to work – I listen to praise music both places! And I thank Jesus for that quick green light, or no traffic coming so I can get to work in a short time! Thank you!
I listen to the Word on my way to work daily and at times on my way back. I love to talk to Him in my car and in the shower. 🙂
Although my commute to my job is quite short….I often turn down the radio (as I listen to a Christian radio station) and share my cares and concerns with God as I’m driving. I also thank Him for the many blessings of the day or pray for those I may spot on my drive to work……homeless folks, accident victims, etc. I once heard it said that our prayer life can be never ending from the moment we wake in the morning until we close our eyes in bed at the end of our day!
I LOVED this! Although I am working at devoting my early morning hours wholly to God, I often wish I could remain in that quiet place. so I’ve started to talk to God all day…all. day. it has made me more aware (and inviting of) His powerful presence, and reminded me I am never alone. I pray on my whole commute now in the morning, and it is WONDERFUL. It almost felt too irreverent at first? because God deserves our most holy and devoted attention! but I love the idea that I can spend my whole day in His presence, and He has blessed me for it. Amen.
I would have to say that apart from my quiet time in the morning, I feel closest to God when I’m out in nature. My husband and I like to just get in the car and drive. I love marveling at God’s creation as we wend through tree lined back roads or along the coast of the Pacific Ocean–the colors of the myriad of different kinds of trees and flowers just fills me with awe and makes me scoff at the “big bang theory”. Oh and water–God’s made so many beautiful, soothing, powerful ways for water to flow!!! I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Writing this makes me realize that maybe I need to just step out on my porch more and just thank God for all He is and has done!! <3
Thank you for your timely reminder on how to be in a more constant state of worship and communion with God. I love the illustration of “the line”. Blessings to you Sharon, for your ministry to a world of women who are searching, and growing.
I love talking to God on my way to work and on my way home…..and throughout the day all day every day!!! You can always talk to God wherever you are and whatever you are doing.
I do talk, even chat with God. Sometimes I kid around and then pray to Jesus, as in, “can you believe how many rough patches I’ve slid thru today with just about everyone I’ve encountered?” Then I ask him to sit ahead of me on life’s bicycle built for two and get me through those treacherous encounters. Other times I speak more reverently to the Lord when I’m driving and worrying about a serious outcome. I also speak aloud and just ask the Holy Spirit to give me a sign or I thank Him for showing me something important in a nudge. Lots of out loud THANK YOU, Lord’s!
I have two beagles that love to go on walks…so Jesus, myself and the pups go on walks all the time. Sometimes there is active conversation…sometimes silence. I find He uses this time to speak with me in very personal ways. He is always welcome and loves to join us!
So totally where iam at now! Remembering to keep the Lord beside me always is a struggle.
I love to Worship in my car 🙏🏼🙏🏼
While waiting in line at a store , instead of looking for a shorter line, I patiently wait and talk/pray to God. Sometimes a song will come to mind and I will hum it quietly.
While at work, I will pray throughout the day. I’m a machine operator so I’m often standing around waiting for the next part to be machined and in that time I will silently talk to God. I also love music and listening to worship music helps me stay tuned into God.
Dear Sharon,
I have enjoyed reading from you over the years. For some time now, I don’t recieve any posts anymore.
I will appreciate it if I am put back on your mailing list.
Thanks very much
Ruth
Author
Hi Ruth. Check your spam folder and see if they are in there. Also, you can sign up at sharonjaynes.com.
Hi Sharon,
Thank you for your timely message to not only women but those of us who feel undue pressure or guilt from weight that I believe God did not put on us.
Over the years of knowing God, walking with Jesus and being guided by His Holy Spirit, I have at times felt feelings of inadequacy but He has taught me, as you said to “erase the dividing line and meld the hemispheres”..
There is a peace that comes when we learn to really walk in the spirit..
Thank you Sis